Rowing Clubs in France: Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and More

This page is for anyone moving to France, on an exchange or spending a season here who wants to find an aviron club. France has a broad club scene, with 419 clubs in the federation’s finder, from Paris clubs on the Seine and Marne that date back to the 1870s and 1880s to small lake clubs near the Swiss border. Société Nautique de la Basse Seine, for example, filed its statutes on 13 October 1882 and still rows on the Seine at Courbevoie.

Clubs to start with

Club	Founded	Location/water	Who it’s for	Website
Société Nautique de la Basse Seine	1882	Courbevoie, Seine	learn-to-row, masters, university	basseseine.net
Boulogne 92 (ACBB rowing section)	1943 (ACBB), 2007 (section)	Sèvres, Seine at Île-de-Monsieur	competitive, recreational	boulogne92.fr
Aviron Marne et Joinville	1876	Joinville-le-Pont, Marne	juniors, masters, recreational	marnejoinville.org
Cercle de l’Aviron de Lyon	n/a	Caluire-et-Cuire near Lyon, Saône	learn-to-row, university, competitive	avironlyon.com
Aviron Toulousain	n/a	Toulouse, Garonne near the Pont Neuf	learn-to-row, masters, recreational	assoconnect site
Club de l’Aviron de Vichy	1892	Vichy, Allier reservoir	learn-to-row, juniors, recreational	clubavironvichy.asso.fr
Club Nautique Divonne	n/a	Divonne-les-Bains, lake of Divonne	learn-to-row, juniors, recreational	cndivonne.com
Aviron Boulonnais	n/a	Boulogne-sur-Mer, Stade Nautique de la Liane	recreational	jimdofree site
Émulation Nautique de Bordeaux	n/a	Bruges near Bordeaux, Bordeaux-Lac	juniors	n/a
Aviron Club de Nantua	n/a	Nantua, Ain	n/a	sitew site

The Lyon club’s site refers to “130 years” of racing there, and Divonne says it was created more than 50 years ago, but neither gives an exact year. More countries are in all club guides, including rowing clubs in Belgium and rowing clubs in Spain.

How French rowing is organised

The Fédération Française d’Aviron (FFA) is the national body, and clubs sit below it in regional leagues and departmental committees. Aviron Toulousain, for example, belongs to the Ligue Aviron Occitanie and the Comité Départemental de Haute-Garonne. You can search the club finder by location.

The FFA’s scope is wider than racing. It lists river rowing, sea rowing, indoor rowing and fixed-bench rowing, plus federal programmes for aviron santé (health rowing) and aviron de randonnée (touring). Membership runs through the federal licence. The FFA site also has a section on medical certificates, so ask your club what paperwork it needs.

Season and regattas

The French calendar starts in autumn with long-distance time trials called têtes de rivière. A look at the FFA’s events list for early November 2026 shows this clearly.

• Têtes de rivière. Regional and interregional heads were scheduled at Angers, Bressols, Metz and Caen on 7 and 8 November 2026.
• Randon’Aviron. Touring events run alongside the racing, such as the Boucle du Vidourle at Le Grau-du-Roi on 7 and 8 November.
• National events. The FFA’s 2026 news mentions a national under-19 and under-23 club championship at Mâcon and the Coupe de France at Vichy, plus national indoor championships.

Vichy matters as a venue. Its reservoir on the Allier has a 2,000m, six-lane course built to international standards.

Joining as a visitor or newcomer

The usual way in is a baptême or a course. Lyon has the most structured offer here: adult stages d’initiation with three sessions a week, on Saturday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from May to the end of September. It also runs summer stages for young people aged 11 and over, in mid-June to late July. Divonne offers a free discovery session on a Saturday morning, and members then train on Saturday mornings. Aviron Toulousain lets you book a trial session online.

Boat clubs near Paris can be large. Boulogne 92 reports around 800 members a year and publishes its club presentation and a rowing glossary in English, which is rare and worth using if your French is basic. Basse Seine has its Rowers from Abroad section, summer rowing camps and a three-month subscription, so it suits people on a short stay.

Otherwise, assume French. As a rule of thumb, a short email in French will get a better response than one in English, and you should ask about licence and insurance before your first session.

How to pick a club in France

• Paris suburbs: follow the transport. Courbevoie, Sèvres and Joinville sit on different sides of the city. Basse Seine and Boulogne 92 are on the Seine to the west, and Marne et Joinville is east on the Marne.
• Check river conditions. Lyon bans outings once the Saône passes 1,200 cubic metres per second, so high water can cancel sessions. On any river, ask how often that happens.
• Think about the format. If you want indoor fitness rather than water time, Aviron Boulonnais and Lyon both offer AviFit, which mixes ergs with fitness work.
• Want calm water? Divonne rows on a lake, and Vichy on a dammed reservoir. As a rule of thumb, both are a gentler start than a busy city river. For more lake rowing across the Alps, see rowing clubs in Italy.
• Students. Basse Seine has a university section, and Lyon lists university rowing.
• Para-rowing. Boulogne 92 runs Aviron et Handicaps.

Starting out? Read rowing for beginners, and if you are unsure about joining, see 10 reasons to join a rowing club.

Spotted a mistake or a club we should add? Let us know.